Hello everyone, I have a strange problem with me 96 LX Accord. When it has been a cold or rainy day and the car goes unused for some time and the car is set to the on position (II), all lights turn on normally, but the engine fails to start. Eventually after waiting for some time in the on position (II) the D4 light will turn on and the car will make a sound. When I go to the III position at this time the engine makes a distinctive sound and if I put some gas or accelerate during this time the engine will start up. If the D4 light doesn't turn itself on prior to starting the engine, the car makes a different sound and refuses to start.



When the car is turned to the on position (II) the engine fails to start.


I am sorry for the weird wording since English is not my first language and I am not that good with cars. When the car does turn itself on, if I turn on the air conditioner and put the car on drive or D4 (or reverse) the engine shuts off and I have to do the process again. This happens because the temperature is low and I have to wait until it is around the middle to turn the air conditioner or put the car on D4. Also it goes without saying, the Check Engine Light is on at all times. This is a used car not from a dealer and works fine for what I use it for, but I would like to know if anyone can help me with the above problem.



When the car is turned to the on position (II) after waiting for some time, I can now attempt to start the engine.


Thanks in advance, I will provide more information if needed.

 

Your check engine light should be going off so you might want to check for codes with an OBDII scanner tool and report back with the codes you get. I had a similar problem with a different car and it turned out I had a crack in one of my spark plug wires so when it rained it would cause the wire to ground itself out and not start. Report back with the codes you get and I am sure that would be more help for someone to help you with this problem.

 

P1381: Camshaft Position Sensor 1 Circuit Malfunction.

Indicates that the engine cranking or running the PCM detected an intermittent loss of signal from camshaft position sensor A.

The problem seems to be with the distributor, its cap and the rotor - ignition. Six months ago we replaced the distributor and the distributor cap. All the problems mention that the engine can run poorly, misfire or not run all so it might be related to my problem.